I like a challenge...or two!

At risk of sounding repetitive...it is yet another fantastic day here in West Sussex. I do hope this continues as I am off to Glasto for a week long course soon and the Somerset countryside is just perfect when it's sunny. I will have to miss a weeks  training then..although it being a meditation and chanting week my spiritual muscles will get a work out! So Coach John thought it'd be good if I got ahead of myself so the week in Glasto will be like a rest week (huh, tell my spiritual muscles that!). Which is how come we headed out for a long ride today which he blithley told me last night was almost flat. Only 200ft of ascent involved. I should have heard the alarm bells as you can't even get out of Maplehurst without almost needing sherpas. OK, OK, I jest. But it is pretty hilly round here.
So we headed off and took a lovely route all around Southwater, Broadbridge Heath, Billingshurst, Adversane, Coolham and eventually back home. Had yet another chain off but I think I finally get what I am doing wrong. Won't bore you with gearing details but hopefully I have now 'got it'. John stopped to help a man from New Jersey (now THAT'S a long ride). He is stranded here due to the ash and had borrowed a friend's bike. Only to find himself miles from friend's house with no spare tube, no phone. John gave him ours and helped him change the tyre. Whilst I cycled on! It didn't take John long to catch me up again. We did alot of riding on busy roads to day to get me used to it. It is pretty hairy at times but no more so than hurtling at breakneck speed down a quiet country hill with potholes and gravel at the bottom. Just a different kind of hairiness!
We got home after 2hr 47m (including stops) and had covered a whopping (to me) 34miles. Yippee! Average of 12m per hour which is not bad considering my quads are still aching a bit from the last ride. Then John told me that we had, in fact, ascended a total of 1,800ft! I will never trust (or indeed ask) him ever again regarding hills on our route!
The next challenge when I got home was far more frustrating but ultimately successful. I am having another go at wearing contact lenses. After a highly successful session yesterday with the lovely Ola The Contact Lens Lady I felt ready to go solo. It only took half an hour and  much cussing, to start with. Then I realised its one of those Zen opportunities. The more relaxed you can be the more likely you are to succeed. A bit like hurtling down gravelly hills really. So here I am looking out at the world without it being framed by glasses and its all becoming clear to me!